The Fall WSRO Conference at Lake Chelan was a wonderful experience for me and I greatly appreciate being selected to receive a scholarship to attend from the WSRO Board. Thank you! A highlight for me was the emphasis put on planning and promoting sustainable transportation options in a smaller community. I loved the personal touch offered by Ben Higgins about Lake Chelan’s “Get Fit Chelan” program as well as a historical and political context for how the City has grown and developed; and what makes it Shine! Along the same lines, Patrick Walker offered some great advice on bicycle planning in a small town. I benefited from the emphasis on working with what you have, identifying projects that are the low hanging fruit, and using existing ‘dead’ spaces to make the community more livable. On another note, I enjoyed some of the process oriented sessions. The takeaways I gained about successful partnerships will be helpful in growing our local TO programs. Successful partnerships do not require money, you just need to know what each party’s goal is, how each party could benefit, and that each party is willing to track progress. I have also began to brainstorm ways to bring disruptive change to this area the way Josh Kavanaugh is doing at UW. Lake Chelan is absolutely beautiful and I feel lucky to have attended this conference. Hope to see everyone in Vancouver in April!

Claire Karner 

SmartTrips Program Coordinator

point2point Solutions

Lane Transit District